


For dirt, defying

by grit



Series: Strength Tells Many Stories [3]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, BAMF Haruno Sakura, BAMF Tenten, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Haruno Sakura-centric, Mild Language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-08
Updated: 2018-10-08
Packaged: 2019-07-28 06:55:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16236497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grit/pseuds/grit
Summary: Ame is a sad artificial station of a planet -- tucked between Kiri, Iwa and a civil war.She’d been living here for two weeks when she realised there can never be enough booze when riots turn the tables and violence rolls through the streets like tanks.Hence, her more or less legally licensed job.





	For dirt, defying

**Author's Note:**

> hello folks and welcome (back) to the madness that is the ideas I can't get rid of  
>    
> EDITED (4/21/19) and got the title from [here.](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/148974/poet-wrestling-with-her-empire-of-dirt)

Sakura circles the tables with a strained smile, picking up tips and empty bottles like litter, routinely steering through the thinning crowd to get back to the bar. She slams the tablet down on the counter. It's the asscrack of dawn and she's been up running for eight hours, so Sakura couldn't care less if one or two more glasses break tonight. She starts pulling them up, emptying them and chunking them into the dish washer, wondering what the hell Suigetsu is busy with that she has to do this herself.

 

She pulled him off of the streets, where he'd been fighting tooth and nail for a blanket and a dinner, and he turned out to be an ungrateful bastard, only calling her ‘the hag'. But he's a headstrong, loyal kid and pretty decent in a fistfight. It's not his fault he grew up to be made of raw insults and Ame's life's-too-short-for-games-bluntness.

 

Ame is a sad artificial station of a planet -- tucked between Kiri, Iwa and a civil war. She’d been living here for two weeks when she realised there can never be enough booze when riots turn the tables and violence rolls through the streets like tanks.

Hence, her more or less legally licensed job. People from around here know her, know well enough not to fuck with her, so she's done pretty well for herself. Nothing short of Ame cracking up under her, which she, even as a former student of the legendary sucker, wouldn't bet against, could blow her world out of proportions. 

 

“Sakura! Hi!” A familiar voice intones, catching her attention and Sakura looks up to realise that she can kiss her sleep goodbye. She should maybe rethink her life choices, too, if this is what she thinks it is.

 

She brushes the sweat off her forehead with the towel that she keeps tucked in her apron's left pocket, right next to her gun, both incredibly handy on nights like these.

 

“Shit, Tenten. You really look like you could use some,” she says bluntly, head jerking towards the hard stuff on display. Tenten waves it off, sinking down on the chair opposite her with a slight wince. Sakura makes out a flash of red before Tenten conveniently brushes her cloak over it.

She gets the vague impulse to bash her people's head in herself every time she sees them because they're so careless with their body, but then again, she doesn't get paid for making things worse.

 

“You've seen better days too.” Tenten grins at her with her teeth bared, showing off her Inuzuka clan allegiance not entirely without humor. Sakura shoves her towel back into her pocket, using the sharp gesture to hide her unlocking the safety of her gun, and grabs a fresh one to wipe the bar, letting her eyes speak for themselves as she visibly checks out Tenten's gear.

 

Sakura looks at her friend, amused. “Are you gonna make me ask?” She fills a glass with tap water under Tenten's watchful eyes, slides it over and tells her to drink up. “If you want my help with whatever shit you ran into this time, you better be straightforward. Because I'm not Lee, and I won't be hauling your ass out of an arms deal on Kusa you didn't fill me in about a second time.”

 

“Oh, not this time.” Tenten leans forward, a smile tugging on her lips, head resting on her hand. She taps her fingers innocuously against the glass of water.

 

“Oh come on,” Sakura says sourly at that, untying her apron, gun swiftly sliding into her hand. “I just paid off the mortgage.” She doesn't wait for a response to drop into a low crouch, narrowly avoiding the laser beam that shatters her good, expensive stuff. She grabs one of her flash grenades, and is about to haul it over the counter when she startles at the lack of fighting noises. There's a few shouts, footsteps rushing to the door in an attempt not to get tangled up in this shit, but no groans, light sabers or punches. Not worth wasting the money then, she concludes, and places the grenade back in the cupboard where she keeps her ammo.

 

“We've got our bounty, so you can come back up now, lady,” a man says.

 

Sakura doesn't think so, but rises anyway, gun pointed at him. It's not like she’s too slow to dodge if she's shot at.

 

One of his friends, there's three in total but one of them’s missing, which she knows because she served them Bourbon Rocks earlier, has his gun cocked against Tenten's head.

 

Scowling, Sakura lowers her own gun and grabs a knife with her right, not that they can see her lower body from where they're standing.

 

Tenten rolls her eyes, knocks back the water and slams the glass on the table with a shatter, yanking the biggest shard over her shoulder and twisting it viciously in the man's shoulder. “You know I hate to bother you, but I could really use your help,” she offers, already throwing herself on the cursing guy, knocking the weapon out of his hand. “I need to lay low for a while and I need a surgeon.”

 

There's barely a strain in her voice as she chokes the man that held her at gunpoint just seconds ago. The other one gapes at her like an idiot, only slowly edging for his gun, and Sakura snorts derisively, cutting off his motion by burying a knife in his palm. 

 

“You know, all the fancy new guns or swords in the world can't help you if you're slower than a five year-old,” she tells him earnestly over his outcry, flipping over the counter, her muscular arms giving her jump enough height to kick him in the shin when she's twisting and dropping.

 

She sends him sprawling to the ground and lands on her feet, satisfied at his pained groans and the angle she got him at. “Clean,” she pronounces, and knocks him out. Sweeping her gaze around her bar, she flips off the last few drunken customers still there and points rudely at the door. Grumbling, they take off. Now, _they_ won't be coming back, but it's not like bartending is a viable option around here anymore, not after what just went down in this place. She groans. She'd just gotten debt-free, too!

 

Sakura turns around and finds Tenten already back in her seat. “I haven't seen you in ages. Why now?” She doesn't ask how she found her. There are very, very few places in the galaxy that Hinata’s eyes can't track her to, and Ame may be the most chaotic populated planet in the system, but it isn't that well-hidden.

 

Tenten fists her hands into her cloak, looking away. “Tsunade's dead. Danzo had all the Uchiha and Senju killed and took over Konoha. Root, however amateurish their new recruits are,” she nods at the two attackers on the ground, “they're motivated and everywhere.”

 

Sakura grinds her teeth together, anger and grief washing over her in a red haze. Growling, she shoots the unconscious bastard she meant to spare earlier. Sakura tries to remember what it's like to breathe, and forcefully buries her feelings. Now is not the time to be blindsided. She needs to keep calm.

 

Her voice doesn't crack when she speaks up. “I suck at faking papers but I'll patch you up.” Tenten knows she’s got connections though, otherwise she wouldn't have asked. She'll have to put in a good word with Sasori, but she's certain pawning off the shop will get her at least two IDs and maybe passports too, if he's feeling charitable. Maybe he will, if it means Suigetsu will finally take him up on that job offer and having her out of his hair, off the planet.

 

Tenten throws back her head and laughs. It's vaguely hysterical. “We never get to have a normal girl's night out, do we?”

 

Sakura thinks of the screwed up missions in Iwa and Kusa they ran together during the war, and smiles sadly. She pulls out a duffle bag she keeps on hand. It's got two sets of clothes, a wig, medical gear, all her savings in cash and enough ammunition to last her through the week.

 

“Coffee with rum?” She asks, slinging the bag over her shoulder. “I know a place. Nice and quiet. We can catch up, I'll take a look at that wound you're hiding and you'll tell me all about your wedding. I can't fucking believe Hana finally proposed. How long did it take her after I left?”

 

Tenten smiles fondly and rises to her feet, squeezing her hands lightly. Sakura swallows roughly and suddenly she has to fight back tears. Danzo's head will be on a spike, and if it's the last thing she does.

 

Tenten knows her well enough to keep the conversation running. “Four years, and I had to sic Gai on her. Coffee sounds good. Let's get out of this shithole.”

 

Sakura's too tired to be offended on behalf of her bar. 

**Author's Note:**

> have a peek at my [tumblr](https://grr-it.tumblr.com/) for yelling, prompts, asks, etc. ;D


End file.
